Presumption of Guilt

Presumption of Guilt examines the excessive use of pretrial detention: the practice of jailing criminal defendants without trial. Around the world, millions of people who should be presumed innocent are held in pretrial detention for months or even years while they await trial. Many pretrial detainees are held in appalling conditions, tortured, denied medical care and access to a lawyer, and exposed to disease; they can lose their homes, jobs, and even families. The excessive use of pretrial detention is a massive, global—but overlooked—human rights violation.